


Building, Rebuilding

by hnathe (vesuviusPrivateer)



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 09:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17937479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vesuviusPrivateer/pseuds/hnathe
Summary: It turns out saving the galaxy doesn't get you a hop and a skip over social services to a growing family, but that's fine. Aria and Jacqui have faced down giant robot gods and come out the other side victorious. They can handle the adoption process.





	Building, Rebuilding

"Now, about your background tests."

  
Jacqui tensed at Aria's side, and she felt her own teeth clench as she fought to keep her face pleasant and neutral. The bright white walls of the social services office grew shorter, closer, and the holo of a small child playing with an even smaller scaly creature on the social worker's desk seemed to buzz with increasing volume.

  
The social worker himself presented a sympathetic face, but said in a decisive tone, "I'm afraid we found some things in your backgrounds that makes us hesitant to approve you for adoption."

  
Jacqui deflated, and Aria turned her gaze from the social worker to meet her eyes, but Jacqui turned her head away. Aria reached for her hand.

  
"Mrs. Green-Joie, ah, I suppose that's both of you," he chuckled, as if he hadn't just pulled the rug from under their feet. "May I call you Aria?"

  
"Fine," said Aria, turning back to him.

  
"Well, Aria, we are of course aware of the strides you've made in the rebuilding effort, and your participation in the battle against-" he hesitated, as many did nowadays, "against the Divine Rigour. In light of this, we were prepared to overlook some of the . . . Less strictly legal activities you had previously participated in. However . . ."

  
He looked at Jacqui.

  
Aria leapt out of her seat.

 

* * *

  
"But it isn't fair! You've been helping with recovery too, you were there for Rigour too, and- and it's not like you're killing people anymore!"

  
Aria threw her jacket into the hamper with such a force that the overfull container wobbled, but ultimately balanced itself. In the corner of the room their cat made a very annoyed "mrrmph" noise but kept its eyes stubbornly closed. Jacqui bookmarked her mechanics textbook and set it on the nightstand, and sighed.

  
"I've still killed people."

  
Aria kept her gaze resolutely on the buttons of her blouse as she plucked them apart with shaking fingers. "So have I."

  
"Okay, I've assassinated people," Jacqui said, "High profile people. Aria."

  
Aria finally looked up at her. Her dark hair was wavy after spending the day in a braid, and her unbuttoned blouse hung limply off of her shoulders, revealing a star-chart of scars along her small chest and soft stomach. Her lips were twisted in anger, but her eyes were tired, and beginning to glisten. Jacqui patted the empty spot on the bed next to her, and Aria sighed, shrugging off her blouse and tossing it over her shoulder, missing the hamper completely. She fell into bed with a flop.

Aria had always fit perfectly into her arms, resting her head under Jacqui's chin as her hand came up to run fingers lightly up and down Jacqui's sternum. Jacqui held in a sigh as she squeezed Aria closer, and said in a voice as steady and light as she could muster;

  
"I'm a giant gene-modded super assassin with huge metal arms full of explosives, not exactly mom of the year material. Maybe we'd be better off with just your name on the papers."

  
Aria frowned, hand pausing on Jacqui's collarbone.

  
"That's not happening," she said, in a voice usually saved for the most Righteous of speeches, "I'm not gonna be a mom without you. And anyway-"

  
The palm on her collar turned into a finger poking into her sternum, hard enough to annoy but not to hurt.

  
"You're gonna be a great mom. No background check is going to show the whole picture. They can wave around paperwork all they want, but that data isn't going to show that you give the best hugs, and protect the people you care about with your life, and like to dance while you cook even though it ends up making a huge mess."

  
Jacqui snorted despite herself.

  
"We just need to find someone who can see that too," Aria said, reaching her arm around Jacqui's middle to prop herself up over her, "I know you've changed. I know how hard you've worked. I can't be the only one who sees that."

  
Jacqui sighed, and raised a hand to push Aria's bangs back, leaning up to kiss her forehead.

  
"Fine," she said, voice heavy with fondness, "You win."

  
Aria grinned widely, letting herself plop down right on Jacqui's chest, ignoring the "oof!" that followed and squeezing her tight around the middle as she snuggled up closer.  
"I always win. Anyway, we're married. I don't think they'd just let me adopt without running a background test on you, too."

  
Jacqui stared up at the ceiling, fighting a grin because Aria could always bring one out of her, but she didn't have to give her the satisfaction.

  
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

  
"And waste a perfectly good speech?"

 

* * *

  
Aria stared down at her coffee cup, the chatter and smell of Constellation doing less to ease her frustrations than she thought it would. Mako leaned over the table to glance into the mug's contents, and made a face.

 

"Eugh. No creamer? That bad, huh?"

  
Aria pushed a few buttons on her bracelet, summoning up her holo screen with loud, staccato clicks and flicking her wrist just so to flip the display. The translucent pink colored Mako's skin a light lavender as he read through the e-mail, occasionally making a face or a "hmm" sound, before finally crossing his arms, kicking his feet up on the table, leaning his chair back precariously far and declaring:

  
"Man, these guys suck."

  
Aria made a grumbling noise as she raised her mug to her lips and took a sip. She grimaced at the bitterness, then took a huge gulp. Mako sipped at his own sugary sparkly frappe, whipped cream sticking to the tip of his nose. Aria closed the holo screen, and the lack of pink light must have made the green envy in her face much more apparent, because Mako held out his sugar bomb of a beverage and gave it a shake. Aria shook her head.

  
"I can't stand the texture of that glittery stuff." She said, pouting, "which sucks because, hello? Look at it!"

  
Mako grinned, raising the cup once more for a huge gulp with an exaggerated "mmmmm". Aria rolled her eyes.

  
"So here's my idea," Mako said, chair making a loud clattering noise as he bounced his legs off the table and back onto the floor. He leaned halfway over the table, propping himself up on his elbows. He paused to take a long sip, then repeated, "So here's my idea: I'll just fog the system. Make Jacqui's old jobs like, daycare volunteer, lifeguard, construction worker so she's got a good story for the arms. Clear up her records and maybe throw something in about rescuing a dog from a burning building, people love that. They'll be throwing kids at you!"

  
"And when they find out and take our kid away?"

  
Mako flopped backwards, seat rocking and squealing with him. A couple of people turned to glare at him.

  
"Man, can't you at least pretend it's a good idea for a minute before you do that?" Mako groused, crossing his arms over his chest as he slumped down. "I'm not kidding around, Ar. I wanna help."

  
Aria sighed, and gave her best, realest smile.

  
"I appreciate that Mako, but I wanna do this the right way. I wanna make sure our family is secure." She raised her mug to her lips, thought better of it, then put it back down. She rubbed at the synth skin of her prosthetic, due for a replacement, and made a soft "hm" sound, before looking from it back to Mako.

  
"Honestly," she said, "If you wanna help . . . Jacqui's been taking it pretty hard. She could use some cheering up."

  
Mako grinned widely.

  
"I know just the guy for the job."

 

* * *

  
Text swam in front of Jacqui's eyes. Gears and shifts and wrenches and screws and pipes and valves formed twisted puzzles that she couldn't have worked out if she could concentrate on her studies, only to be interrupted by the thunk of a mug on her kitchen table.

  
Her eyes jolted from her screen to the mug, which looked like it was formerly emblazoned "World's Best Mom". The "Best" had been sloppily covered, and "Biggest" written over it in bright purple. Jacqui snorted, and didn't even have to think about it before greeting her guest.

  
"Hey, Larry. What's up?"

  
Larry had a huge, toothy smile that bordered on the unnerving until you got used to it, stretching out further than Mako's usually would. His hands ran over the table repeatedly as he spoke, taking in the texture greedily. He stood despite the two available chairs, beaming down at Jacqui.

  
"Heard you were feeling kinda shitty," he said, voice bright, " thought I'd bring you a little gift to cheer you up!"

  
Jacqui lifted the mug by the handle, noticing a subtle glitter in the purple lettering when she tilted it. She sighed.

  
"Appreciate the thought, but you might want to wait 'til I'm actually a mom," she said, trying to hand it back to Larry, "if I'm ever a mom."

  
Larry frowned--pouted, more like--and crossed his arms, staring pointedly at the offered mug until Jacqui gave up and put it down.

  
"Well, A, you're already a mom, duh, you've got Tango," Larry said, holding up one finger, "furbabies totally count. And two, you're definitely gonna be a human mom, and you're gonna be the best at it, once those "social workers"," he made quote signs with both hands, "figure out how to get their eyes unglued from their "files"." He made a second set of quote signs.

  
Jacqui closed her holo screen and slumped back in her chair.

  
"It's not like I can blame them, Lar."

  
"I can!"

  
Jacqui rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. "Thanks. But they're trying to make sure kids are going to people who are going to take care of them." She reached one hand up to rub at the seam where the aluminum of her arms met the flesh of her torso. "Make sure they'll be safe, you know. I can't be pissed about that. I wish someone had been looking out for me like that."

  
Larry huffed.

  
"You have huge metal arms with bombs in them, Jacqui! Who could keep a kid safer than you?"

  
"I'm a former assassin, with a kill list a mile long, and huge metal arms with bombs in them," Jacqui said, voice flat, "Who's less safe for a kid than me."

  
"Uuuuuuugh. You're being stupid." Larry said, and finally sat for the sake of flopping dramatically into the chair.

  
"I'm being realistic," Jacqui snapped, crossing her arms and glaring across the table at him. "I'm not getting my hopes up just to get them smashed back down."

  
Larry rolled his eyes. "You're being stupid," he repeated, "and scared."

  
Jacqui opened her mouth to retort, but the air left her in a sigh instead as she reached up to rub at her temple.

  
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm scared, Larry. I-" she folded her arms on the table and dropped her head down on top of them, "Who wouldn't be?"

  
Ting! Ting!

  
Jacqui glanced up to see Larry tapping her shoulder, having gotten up out of his chair and around the table far quieter than Mako could have in the same body. It would be unnerving if Jacqui didn't know Larry was mostly harmless.

  
"You're gonna be an awesome mom, y'know?" Larry said, Mako's face unusually soft and voice uncharacteristically sincere, "If I can tell, and I was never even a kid, I bet one of those social workers is gonna see it too. So don't be all scared about it. You're Jacqui, you're not scared of shit!"

  
The corners of Jacqui's eyes prickled, but she grinned as she raised one arm to put Larry in a headlock, and the other to ruffle his hair mercilessly as he pretended to struggle.

  
"Agh! I take it back, you're gonna be the worst mom ever!"

  
Jacqui laughed, and impossible as it was, her shoulders felt lighter.

 

* * *

 

Aria held Jacqui's hand under the desk as L.C. skimmed a few paragraphs of text on the holo between them. Their eyes betrayed nothing of what they thought of the words, and they played with a loose curl of hair with their left hand, distracting and irritating. How many offices had she been to in how many domes? How many people had smiled, so pityingly, at her as they explained that her wife--her incredible, brave, loving wife--wasn't fit to raise a child.

  
Aria's hand tensed under the desk. Jacqui gave her hand a squeeze, and leaned over to press their shoulders together briefly.

  
L.C. closed their screen.

  
"So," they said, and looked at Jacqui directly, "I'm sure you know, your background check isn't doing you any favors here."

  
Jacqui nodded curtly. Aria grit her teeth.

  
"But," L.C. said, and Aria's eyebrows shot up, her eyes widened, and she squeezed Jacqui's hand so hard she could hear a soft screech of scraping metal, "I've been looking at your more recent info. I understand you're in classes?"

  
Jacqui let her gaze drift to Aria, who gulped, and nodded. Jacqui looked slowly back at L.C..

  
"Yeah. . . I'm trying to get my mechanic certification. Aria's already got a pretty good gig running rebuild, I wanted to get an honest job, y'know? Support her, get things more stable."

  
L.C. nodded, and made a soft "hmm" noise. "Won't pay as much as mercenary work, will it?"

  
Jacqui shook her head, and opened her mouth, then closed it. She glanced at Aria again, but Aria had no prompt for her. They'd never talked about this in a meeting before--they'd never gotten this far.

  
"That says a lot, you know," L.C. said, and tucked that one curly strand behind their ear, "that you're trying to go right, that you're serious."

  
They levelled a steady, hard gaze at Jacqui, then at Aria. "It's asking a lot, to overlook both of your less than legal histories. Heroics alone can't make a stable home."

  
"We know," Aria said, slowly, "we both . . . have things in our past that aren't going to go away, but. . . I want to build a better future for Counter/Weight and- and we want to build a better future together. With a family."

  
L.C. leaned back in their chair, steepling their fingers together and closing their eyes as if in deep thought. Jacqui leaned forward across the desk, and Aria thought her heart might burst at the desperation in her eyes and voice.

  
"Look, I know how shitty it can be to grow up alone, or with parents that don't give a damn, ok? I wanna be better at that. I want to give a kid a family who loves them and p- . . . and protects them. I-"

  
"That's enough."

  
Jacqui's mouth snapped shut at the finality in L.C.'s voice. She sat back in her chair, and her hand shook in Aria's grip.

  
L.C. opened their eyes, and leaned back toward the desk. For a moment, their expression was as cool and smooth as glass, then a smile began to quirk at one side of their mouth.

  
"Okay. I'll take a chance on the Green-Joies. I have some forms for you to sign, and we'll contact you-"

  
"Wait, seriously?!" Aria cried, leaping to her feet and slamming her palms on the desk. Jacqui had gotten to her feet only moments after, and looked between Aria and L.C., eyes wide, hopeful, and frightened.

  
L.C. adjusted their glasses.

  
"No need for an outburst, Mrs. Green-Joie. Yes, we'll begin the process of approving you for adoption."

  
"Can I hug you?"

  
"No."

  
Jacqui's incredulous, shaky laughter was music to Aria's ears.

 

* * *

  
"How many parts does this thing have? Where is the . . ." Cass squinted at the diagram in their free hand, "L-Vinkel?"

  
Aria scanned the book shelf components sprawled across the floor. A lot of them were . . . dubiously L-shaped, and for as much as Aria had gone over the diagram herself, she found the word "vinkel" bouncing about uselessly in her skull instead of calling up any sort of clues as to the form or function of the piece. Actually, she was starting to wonder if maybe Tango had run off with a few pieces while they weren't looking. She reached out for one piece, then glanced at a marginally more L-shaped piece to the right, and after some deliberation, grabbed that one and held it out to Cass with the most confident look she could muster.

  
They glanced between the diagram and the piece. Several times. Eventually they shrugged and took the component from her, holding it up to the frame of the bookshelf and scanning for the right spot to screw it in.

  
"Please tell me you didn't get the rest of the furniture from the same place?"

  
Aria laughed.

  
"Well . . . They had the best prices, so . . ."

  
"That's great that you saved some cred and all but I don't even know what planet this language is from."

  
Aria squinted at her own page of the diagram, as if the words _could_ be deciphered, she just wasn't _concentrating_ hard enough. " . . . .Keeeeeeesh?" She ventured.

  
Cass seemed to consider this for a moment, then shook their head and returned to their work on the shelf. "So . . . Know anything about the kid yet?"

  
Aria spread the diagram out on the floor, freeing her hands to compare and sort components. "Not much . . . They're considering us for an age range of four to seven, and-" She paused, worrying at her lower lip, "first time parents aren't being considered for kids with . . . kids who were really hurt in the fighting."

  
Cass was silent for a few moments, then set their screwdriver down on the precarious shelf and kneeled down on the floor across from Aria, sorting through parts and not meeting her eyes.

  
"Did you want to . . . " They began, then laughed fondly, "of course, who am I talking to--you wanted to take in a war orphan, huh?"

  
Aria shrugged one shoulder, and tryed to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "Seems like the right thing to do, y'know?"

  
"Mm," Cass hummed softly, then shook their head. "Aria, you've got your heart in the right place, but a traumatized kid is going need a lot of special care and support. I think you and Jacqui are going to be great moms, don't get me wrong, but you've got your own war shit to work through."

  
Aria looked up, eyes narrowed and lips set in a frown.

  
"You don't think I know that? That shared experience could help a child cope-"

  
"So join a mentorship program," Cass said, looking up and meeting her eyes, "Do some outreach, you're good at that. But you've gotta be realistic if you're going to be taking care of a whole other person. It doesn't do anyone any good if you bite off more than you can chew here, least of all the kid."

  
Aria opened her mouth, the list of reasons she had already made for why she could do it and how she would prepare building up at the back of her throat as she clenched a segment of bookshelf in her human hand. Cass's gaze did not falter, and the words never made it past Aria's lips. She clenched her jaw and found a spot of thin paint on the wall to focus on as she breathed in deeply through her nose.

  
"I think I could do it," she still said.

  
Cass reached over and put their hand over hers, skin over metal. "Hey," they said, quiet, and Aria blinked away the stinging at the corners of her eyes before looking back at them, "Someday, yeah. I think you could, and you'd do a great job. But this is your first kid. No one's saying they think you'll be a bad parent, they just want people with experience they can verify. You can't take it so personally."

  
Aria dropped the shelf piece she had been holding to rub at her eyes. She laughed, the sound half-hiccup.

  
"I hate that you're always right. Buttface."

  
"Hey, better tone down that language before you have a kid in this house!"

 

* * *

  
Jacqui's knee bounced, her hands clenched and unclenched, and she could not find a single spot on the wall to focus on. Aria was deadly still beside her, aside from the hand that rested on Jacqui's ecstatic knee. The only sound in the room besides the tapping of Jacqui's foot was an artificial tick-tock that accompanied a hologram of an old analog clock, which displayed the time beneath its face in big bold numbers anyway. L.C. had straightened up their desk and minimized their holo-screens what seemed like hours ago, before informing the jaw-clenching, knee-bouncing couple that they would be back in a few minutes with their child.

  
Their child. No longer a prospective, too early to meet in case the process hit a snag, or fell through. The child that would be a permanent part of their family in as little as three weeks if everything continued to run smoothly. They had been shown her file; photo, name, medical history and food allergies--all of that they had known for a month now, and Jacqui had already commited to memory a list of breakfast cereals that never came in contact with peanuts.

  
The door creaked, and Aria's hand squeezed Jacqui's knee so hard that Jacqui counted her lucky stars that she was seated on Aria's left. L.C. came in first, hand caught in the tiny grip of a wide-eyed child who tip-toed behind them, peaking out at Aria and Jacqui without a word. Jacqui's eyes started to itch at the corners, and she tried for a friendly smile. The little girl ducked behind L.C., and Jacqui flinched, her smile faltering. Aria's hand gripped tighter.

  
"Don't be shy," L.C. chided in a gentler voice than Jacqui had ever heard from them, "Laurel, this is Jacqui and Aria, and they're very excited to meet you. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

  
Laurel ducked her head, and L.C. gently guided her forward with a light hand on her shoulder. She raised her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking in a soft and shaky voice words that must have been rehearsed for weeks.

  
"Hi, my name is Laurel Lamilly, my favorite color is green, my favorite food is, um, strawberry ice cream, um--oh!" Her brown eyes blew wide, "Oh, I forgot--I'm six!"

  
She splayed out the fingers on her right hand and gave a thumbs-up with her left to support this statement. Jacqui's heart melted.

  
Aria was the first to speak in turn. She almost got out of her chair, instead opting to lean forward a bit to be closer to Laurel's eye level. "Hi there, Laurel," She said, eyes gentle and voice even more so. Jacqui had to remind herself that Aria was a public figure with practice at this kind of thing before she started worrying about it coming so apparently naturally to her. "My name is Aria Joie-Green, and-"

  
"Green? Your last name is Green?" Laurel interrupted, tiny fists raising to chest level as she smiled wide. "That's so cool! Will mine be Green, too? That's my favorite!"

  
"Laurel, let's remember our manners," L.C. chided, but Aria shook her head, grinning.

  
"Oh, yeah? Well, I got the name from Jacqui, here." Aria said, nudging Jacqui with an elbow, "You might have to ask her if you can use it."

  
Laurel's big brown eyes turned on Jacqui, then, and Jacqui tried to crouch down to a less intimidating height as she attempted a smile as winning as Aria's.

  
"Well, I think Aria's gonna want some rep there too," she said with a shaky laugh, "So, if you want it . . . You can have Joie-Green. You don't have to!" She quickly added, "Lamilly is a good name, y'know, and we're not gonna make you change it, so- so. . ." She trailed off, rubbing at the back of her head.

  
Laurel nodded slowly, almost pensively. The serious look on her face almost brought a laugh out of Jacqui, but she clamped it down.

  
"So, Laurel, as I said before we came in, Aria and Jacqui want to adopt you." L.C. said, kneeling to look Laurel in the eyes, "We're just doing introductions today, and they'll be coming by to visit for a couple of weeks, so you can get to know them better. Do you think you'll be okay with that?"

  
Laurel glanced from L.C.'s face to Aria and Jacqui, gaze lingering on Jacqui. Jacqui gulped, and tried again for that gentle smile. Laurel stared a moment, then grinned back at her, and nodded at L.C.

  
Jacqui's heart erupted.

 

* * *

  
Laurel's hand was tiny and warm in Aria's as she led her along the pavement toward the parking lot. Aria looked left for what must have been the seventh time since leaving the building to catch Jacqui's eye and exchange matching grins. Laurel laughed, bright and bubbly, as they swung her up between them. It was a warm day, the artificial climate ticking up a few degrees as May moved into June, and the smog above the dome clearing just enough that slivers of bright sunlight could peak through.

  
Aria glimpsed the bumper of their ride home, just visible at the edge of a concrete fence, and reached her free hand up to press the cyberware communicator that didn't get much use nowadays, but never really got traded in for the normal phone Aria kept saying she was going to buy.

  
"Hey, think you could meet us outside the car?"

  
Jacqui shot her a curious glance as silence greeted Aria's question. If she focused she could hear the soft whirring of thought that preceded a flat voice responding, "We will reach your home faster if I remain seated. I am certain Jacqui can handle any luggage."

  
Aria sighed a soft laugh. "No luggage, I just want you to come out and meet her."

  
"I am aquainted with Jacqui."

  
"AuDy! I want you to come meet Laurel! Get out of the car and socialize."

  
"Fine. I will exit the vehicle under duress."

  
"Love you too!"

  
Jacqui shook her head. "You could've told them they'd have to say hi before we came here."

  
"Do you think they would have come?"

  
Laurel looked up at Aria, brown eyes questioning. "Who's saying hi?"

  
The clunk of a closing car door was followed by the softer clunks of metal on pavement. Aria crouched down and smiled at Laurel.

  
"We're going to say hi to a very good friend of mine, Laurel. They're really shy, so go easy on them, ok?"

  
Laurel nodded solemnly as the clunking ceased.

  
"I am not shy."

  
AuDy adjusted the placement of their sunglasses as Aria gave Laurel a gentle nudge. "Laurel, honey, this is AuDy. They've been my friend for a very long time. Why don't you say hi?"

  
Laurel took a few steps forward, craning her neck up to look for a face and tilting her head to one side before raising a small, chubby hand and twiddling her fingers, smiling and launching into her well-rehearsed introduction.

  
"Hi, AuBy! My name's Laurel Lamilly! My favorite color is green and I like strawberry ice cream and I'm six years old."

  
"I am two-thousand years old. It is good to meet you Laurel."

  
Laurel's eyes blew wide and her mouth dropped open. "You're two-thousand? How many is two-thousand?"

  
"It is two-thousand."

  
Aria giggled and Jacqui couldn't help but crack a grin as Laurel furrowed her brow and raised both hands to count on her fingers.

  
AuDy's joints creaked as they kneeled down in front of Laurel, and they reached for her hands. "May I?"

  
Laurel hesitated a moment, looking from AuDy's hands to their camera. Then she held out her left hand. Aria watched, curious, as AuDy carefully guided Laurel to extend out all of her fingers.

  
"You have five fingers on each hand."

  
"Yep!"

  
"Imagine if you had four-hundred hands."

  
Laurel's eyes blew wide, her mouth dropping open in a gasp before she breathlessly intoned, "You're old."

  
"Yes."

  
Aria failed to hide her grin and giggles as AuDy rose back up to look at her and gestured back at the car. "Are you ready now?"

  
Aria met Jacqui's eyes before Jacqui crouched down to Laurel's eye level. "What'd'you think, pipsqueak?" She asked, smile threatening to overtake her face, "You ready to go for a car ride and see your new house?"

  
"Yeah!" Laurel cried out, tiny arms wrapping around Jacqui's neck in a tight hug, laughing when Jacqui swung her up in her arms. While they tried to be discreet about it, Aria took note of AuDy's hands twitching slightly at their sides when Jacqui lifted Laurel, visualizer adjusting until they had verified Laurel was at no risk of falling. She smiled a little smile to herself and nudged AuDy with her shoulder as they made their way to the car. They pointedly did not notice.

  
(Aria politely did not call attention to AuDy adjusting and readjusting Laurel's carseat several times before they started their drive.)

 

* * *

  
Aria tried and failed to hide a long, wide yawn behind her hand as she pulled back the covers next to Jacqui, and failed again to stifle a squeak as Jacqui grasped her around the waist and pulled her into bed. She didn't try to muffle her laughter on purpose, seeming to have learned the error of her ways, but Jacqui's collarbone did a good job of softening the sound anyway.

  
"I thought you were asleep!" She gasped, ineffectually punching at Jacqui's arm with her non-metal fist. "You scared me!"

  
Jacqui squeezed her closer, burying her face in her hair and chuckling softly. Aria sighed, letting herself melt into her wife's chest, "I'm still mad at you," she said, clinging closer to her, "you can't cuddle your way out of this."

  
"Be mad at me in the morning," Jacqui mumbled, freeing up Aria just a little bit to pull the covers back over the both of them, "I was cold."

  
Jacqui had an exam in the morning, so she'd had to skip out on Laurel's bedtime story to go to bed herself even earlier, but she hadn't been able to sleep, spending what was probably two hours now in thought.

  
"How long has it been?"

  
"Mm?" Aria's voice was already heavy with sleep.

  
"Since we adopted Laurel? It's been almost a year now, yeah?"

  
Aria yawned. "Yeah . . . What, do you wanna do something for the anniversary?"

  
"I wanna adopt another kid."

  
Aria went still in Jacqui's arms, and the only sound in the room was the two of them breathing, until Aria fought her way out from under the covers, grin wide and bright enough to light the whole room as she grasped Jacqui's face between both hands.

  
"Seriously? You sure? 'Cause I do too and I'll do it so you better not be joking with me, Green."

  
"When have I ever joked with you?" Jacqui asked, with a laugh in her voice, reaching her own hand up to stroke over Aria's hair, "I think Laurel's ready to be a big sister. I think we're ready for another kid. I'm sure we're ready. Nobody's ever been as ready as us."

  
"I love you so much," Aria pressed kisses all over Jacqui's face, letting out little squeals between each peck. Jacqui squeezed her closer and laughed until Aria finally relented, pulling Jacqui in so Jacqui's head was rested against her chest, Aria's fingers running lazily through her hair and over her scalp. "I love you so much," she repeated, in a wobbly whisper, as if overwhelmed by the strength of her own love, "there's no one else I'd rather build my family with. I love you, and our daughter, and I can't wait to keep growing with you."

  
Jacqui let Aria's words wash over her, until they faded and she could only hear the beat of Aria's heart close to her ear. She shifted to press a kiss to Aria's chest, above her heart.

  
"You never stop with those speeches of yours," she said, and her eyes stung, "but you're right. I don't know what I'd do without my best girls. You and Laurel are my whole world."

  
Aria sniffled. Jacqui sighed. They held each other tight until sleep loosened their grips.

  
And when morning came, and Jacqui was pouring a bowl of brightly colored breakfast cereal that she had made doubly sure had never even heard of peanuts, she asked her daughter what she thought about becoming a big sister.

  
She was thrilled.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this last Femslash February and I wasn't gonna let another one pass me by without posting this baby. I am very sleepy. Shout out to Bee who has probably forgotten I borrowed the name of one of their OCs and shout out to Ellie for naming Laurel. Finally shout out to CWRP for the birth of Tango, the cat who cameo'd her way into this fic, and to Alex especially for Jacqui and Larry being best bros.


End file.
